DESCRIPTION: This application is for partial funding of a Summer Conference on Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Splanchnic Circulation. This conference will be held under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) from July 19th to the 24th, 1998. The conference will be held at the Namaste Retreat Center in Wilsonville, Oregon and will be limited to 165 basic and clinical scientists, who will be selected on the basis of their expertise and interest. There will 9 major scientific sessions with 4 to 5 oral presentations by experts in the field. Open discussion will take approximately 25 percent of each session. There will be two poster sessions to allow for an additional form for presentation of data. Major topics of the meeting are: 1) Application of transgenic and knockout mice to studies of vascular physiology, 2) Modification of vascular cell function by transfection and immunotargeting, 3) Platelets, thrombosis and the microcirculation, 4) Interaction of blood elements with endothelial cells, 5) Techniques in cell physiology, 6) Biology of the vascular smooth muscle cell, 7) Pathophysiology of the resistance vasculature, 8) the microcirculation in cancer, and 9) The extracellular environment and microvascular function. The program will meet two important objectives. One will expose the participants to a wide array of state-of-the-art animal models and cellular techniques that are changing the way in which scientists study the circulation. Secondly, the program will define areas of controversy, uncertainty, and agreement in research topics that have not been the focus of prior conferences.